Australian teacher Mark Ciavarella allegedly murdered, fed to crocodiles in Congo

The brother of a NSW man who died after unknowingly drinking poison has told of his devastation as the victim’s lover prepares to face court.

Australian teacher Mark Ciavarella died after unknowingly drinking poison.

An Australian teacher has been poisoned in Africa and his body tossed into a crocodile infested river in a murder his grieving family has described as “too painful to conceive.”

Mark Ciavarella, 57, died within 35 minutes of unknowingly drinking poison at his unit in Congo, where he had worked for six years as a teacher at an American school.

His flatmate and lover Clement Bebeka has been charged with assassination and will face trial in March at the “Palais de Justice” main court in the capital Brazzaville, where police intend to show an alleged video confession.

Mark Ciavarella’s lover has been charged with his murder.

A source close to the Congolese police investigation said it would be alleged Bebeka was fearful Mr Ciavarella was planning on leaving him, no longer financially supporting him and returning home to Australia.

“I’ve lived with Mark since 2016, he was a teacher here for sometime, he called me to say he was going back to Australia because his American contract with the school had ended and he was going to teach at the French Institute,” Bebeka is alleged to have said in French in the videoed interview.

“I came to Brazzaville to the apartment … and (saw him) with a friend, I didn’t know if they were together, but he said Mark was going to leave the country and leave us with nothing and said we needed something to benefit.

“He said he had a solution.

The American international school in Brazzaville where Mark Ciavarella worked.

“I asked, ‘what is it?’ He came back with a bottle of poison, Mr Mark went to pee in the shower and *the friend) poured the poison into a glass on the table and Mr Mark came back and drank the poison. It happened in front of me.

“No, I didn’t intervene … (the friend) told me we needed to get his money and his bank cards.

“He didn’t have money on him but he did have it on his bank card.

“After he drank the poison, he fell asleep and after 35 minutes or so he was dead.”

Mark Ciavarella left NSW in search of an adventure.

Clement Bebeka, Mark Ciavarella's flatmate and lover, has been charged with assassination and will face trial in March

Bebeka’s friend is then alleged to have called a driver he knew to help them dispose of the body in the Congo River — the second longest river in Africa.

“We put the body in the car and threw it into the water,” he allegedly told police in the video, filmed on the bridge where the body was allegedly offloaded from.

“The body was folded in a bed sheet … I then went to the police station to tell them Mr Mark had disappeared,” Bebeka allegedly said on the police video.

Mr Ciavarella had been missing since October 26 and was reported missing after his family failed to reach him by phone.

Mark Ciavarella’s family in Australia have been left devastated.

Last month a video was sent from Mr Ciavarella’s WhatsApp account to his family showing the face of an African man unknown to them.

“If it was a crash or illness, it would be easier to come to terms with, but the fact they killed him and fed him to crocodiles in the sea is killing us, it’s too painful to imagine his last moments, we are absolutely devastated,” his devastated brother Darren Ciavarella told News Corp

“We told him to come home sooner, but he was worried he was a guarantor for a loan for me but it was a fraudulent scheme and he was ripped off and lost his house and lost thousands of dollars and was being chased for money.”

The kind-hearted teacher was passionate about his work, family members say.

Mr Ciavarella, who hailed from Leeton, NSW before moving to the Hunter Valley, north of Sydney, left Australia in search of an adventure, first working as an English and music teacher with the American International School in Congo and then with the French Consular School.

“He knew it was a dangerous spot but he was very passionate about teaching the kids over there and helping out, he had the biggest heart,” Mr Ciavarella’s brother Darren said.

He claimed the Congo secret service had been engaged to investigate his brother’s disappearance.

“I got a phone saying they had a confession from two men, and I was assured that they had got the guys,” he said.

“The fact they haven’t found the body and probably never will makes it harder for us in so many ways, to come to terms with his death, to get a death certificate so we can tie up his affairs, we’ll never be able to bring him home.

“It’s gut wrenching what’s happened to Mark. I spoke to him the day before he disappeared.

“He was in a good space and excited about coming back to his life in Australia.”